Atlantic City Aims To Counter Bad Publicity With Ad Campaign

File
of a view from the boardwalk of several casinos in Atlantic City,
New JerseyThomson
Reuters

By Daniel Kelley

(Reuters) - Atlantic City's supporters have launched an ad
campaign to reverse what they see as an onslaught of bad
publicity about the New Jersey seaside resort, where four of 12
casinos have recently announced plans to close.

Full-page ads to appear on Thursday in the Philadelphia Inquirer,
Newark Star-Ledger and Wall Street Journal show the city's beach
earlier this month during a free concert by country stars Lady
Antebellum attended by 65,000 people.

Atlantic City Alliance, the marketing agency behind the city's
"Do AC" slogan, bought the ads, which will run two days after the
city's newest casino, the $2.4 billion Revel, said it would shut
down after less than three years in business.

"The image is that this city is dead," said Liza Cartmell, the
president of the Atlantic City Alliance. "In reality, our
boardwalk is packed, our beaches are packed. We have a lot of
reporters coming down to do stories on these closures, and they
say, 'Why can't I get a room?'"

Room occupancy rates in Atlantic City have topped 95 percent, the
alliance says, while some hotels that are not associated with
casinos are experiencing double-digit growth.

Cartmell hopes the ads will highlight non-gaming activities as
Atlantic City tries to reposition itself as a family-friendly
leisure and entertainment destination.

Gaming revenue for Atlantic City, which once held a lucrative
East Coast gambling monopoly, has dropped from its 2006 peak of
$5.2 billion to $2.8 billion, according to state gaming
regulators.

The trend follows the introduction or expansion of gaming in
neighboring states, including Pennsylvania, Maryland and New
York.

The Revel's closing could leave Atlantic City with a third
fewer casinos than at the start of the year, when 12
were in operation.

In July, Trump Plaza Hotel said it would close in September. The
Atlantic Club casino was sold and shut down in January and the
Showboat Atlantic City, one of the city's largest properties, has
said it will close at the end of August.

The alliance wanted the ads to run in the Philadelphia and
northern New Jersey newspapers to reach the resort's traditional
consumers.

The ad in the Wall Street Journal, which is identical to the one
in the other papers, was meant to reach the investment and
financial community, Cartmell said.